영어속독--Aroma of bygone Kobe fills reborn coffee shop

Aroma of bygone Kobe fills reborn coffee shop

The Yomiuri Shimbun

===========================================================================================

KOBE — Drink a cup of coffee at the Hokodo coffee shop in Kobe, and you’ll be wrapped in an aroma of civilization and enlightenment.

 

A long-established tea leaf retailer, Hokodo opened Japan’s first coffee shop in the early Meiji era (1868-1912). once closed, the shop recently reopened next to the company’s flagship store on the Motomachi shopping street in Kobe’s Chuo Ward.

 

It serves blended coffee using grounds from a custom-ordered stone mill, weighing about 25 kilograms, based on a recipe handed down in the store.

 

Under a signboard reading “Japan’s oldest coffee shop,” a Hokodo employee uses the mill, from which uneven grains land on a plate. According to the method passed down orally within the company, the beans should be ground with a bowl-shaped stone mill.

 

This spring, the store staff began working to recreate the blended coffee based on information about how it was served in the Meiji era.

 

“Uneven-sized bean grains create shifting flavors when [the coffee] is sipped,” said Takuya Hashimoto, who was in charge of re-creating the drink. “Our customers in the Meiji era probably enjoyed the wide-ranging flavor.”

 

The blended coffee is served in a pot containing 2½ cups and costs ¥630. “This coffee has a pleasant bitterness and richness,” a recent customer said. “I can tell people in the past were gourmets.”(234 words)

 

______ min.  ______ sec.